Breaking Bread

One of my co-workers, Alex, correctly pointed out that the timing of my first stab at bread-making falls, somewhat ironically, on the Jewish holy day of passover (otherwise known as the "Feast of Unleavened Bread"). Thousands of years ago when the Temple in Jerusalem was standing, families were required to make a sacrifice of lamb or goat at the temple (the "Pesach sacrifice") and eat it that night. The sacrifice could not be offered with anything leavened (another word for fermenting or causing dough to rise) and would be eaten together with matzo (unleavened bread) [1]. Interesting. That said, as an Anglican I don't celebrate passover, and I tend to think of Anglicanism as 'religion without rules', which suits me fine given that my once a year trek to church on Christmas Eve probably wouldn't impress JC / God if I were a catholic. I guess I have Henry VIII to thank for freeing up my Sunday mornings for baking and for some fine HBO programming.

Update on Bread Attempt #1

It looks like the timing of my first boule will likely fall into tomorrow. I'm having a bit of trouble reviving my starter after a few days of refrigeration and a big reduction and feeding (1 part starter : 1 part flour : 1 part water) yesterday morning. I also went on a search for flour this morning after dropping my wife off at the library, and ended up on the bottom floor of the St. Lawrence Market where there's a small colony of bulk food stores. I was in the first store and found a bin of 'hard' whole wheat flour next to a bin of whole wheat flour. After my experience with spelt flour last weekend, I opted for the normal whole wheat flour and bought two bags. No big deal. Then I walked out of the store and saw that there was a specialty flour and grain store right next door. They had a number of bins labeled whole wheat flour and unbleached 'hard' whole wheat (bread) flour. After second guessing some of my earlier flour choices I picked up a large bag of unbleached 'hard' white bread flour.

A few hours and a wikipedia and Bread Baker's Apprentice stop later I learned that:

1) Hard flour, otherwise known as bread flour, is high in gluten content (12-14%) and has elastic toughness that holds its shape well once baked. Important fact. I've tried to adjust my starter by feeding it today with the unbleached hard white flour.

2) Unbleached flour has more of a brown tint caused by beta-carotine. Using bleached flour doesn't seem to impact the recipe, but the beta-carotine improves flavour and aroma. Given the choice, unbleached seems like the way to go.

So, my starter is now a mish-mash of whole wheat and unbleached hard white flour. Photo below:

We'll see what happens. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm on-track to produce some kind of bread Frankenstein tomorrow. I may also be starting starter #3.

postscript - Remember to kill the lights for Earth Hour tonight at 8.30pm

Notes:

[1] Good wikipedia entries on passover and matza